Fanning bags brace as Leinster men maintain perfect record

LEINSTER A 31 CROSS KEYS 0

On the same day that Leinster made it three wins from three in their Heineken Cup pool, the province’s ‘A’ side replicated that achievement as tries in both halves by left-wing Darragh Fanning helped Girvan Dempsey‘s charges towards a facile victory at Donnybrook on Saturday.

Tries by hooker Bryan Byrne and Fanning, and a brace of successful penalties by Cathal Marsh, gave Leinster a commanding 16-0 cushion at the break.

Another place-kick by the promising No 10 nine minutes after the restart further increased the home team’s advantage, but, despite losing flanker Jevon Groves to the sin-bin in the 53rd minute, Cross Keys stuck effectively to their defensive duties.

A further yellow card, issued to replacement Tom Lampard 14 minutes from the end, reduced Keys’ hand once again, however, and with both Fanning and powerful centre Jordan Coghlan crossing the whitewash late on, Leinster ‘A’ comfortably secured their bonus-point triumph.

LEINSTER A – D Hudson; S Coghlan-Murray (R Byrne 79), C O’Shea, J Coghlan (A Boyle 74), D Fanning; C Marsh (A Byrne 79), L McGrath; J O’Connell (P Dooley 79), B Byrne (J Tracy 71), T Furlong; B Marshall, Q Roux (R Molony 79); D Ryan, D Leavy (J Conan 47), L Auva’a.

CROSS KEYS – D Jones; K Baller (N Trowbridge 47), L Andrews, J Cordy-Redden, E Jones; S Jones, R James (R Dyer 51 (R Tucker 64)); R Cornock (L Garrett 55), G Price, A Lott (C Gould 62); D Hodge (T Lampard 55), O Hodge; J Groves, S Matthews, A Powell.

REF – T Foley (IRFU)